Before
the Toronto Blue Jays played their last game of the 2009 season, Lyle
Overbay visited manager Cito Gaston in his office in the visitors’
clubhouse in Baltimore.
This was just two days after a story
broke that said Gaston had lost the confidence of his players because he
was too aloof, too “old-school.” A few veteran players, Overbay among
them, spoke publicly about a communication rift that had increasingly
undermined team morale as the season progressed.
Personally,
Overbay was frustrated that Gaston had made him a platoon player. So
before the last game, the first baseman walked in and asked whether
Gaston had determined his role for 2010.
“He said, ‘I’m going to play you every day. You’re going to be our first baseman,’ “ Overbay recalled yesterday.
Then Overbay told another story.
“I
remember early this season, we were looking for somebody and Cito’s
door was shut, and some of the guys didn’t want to knock on it. I said,
‘I’ll go knock on it.’
“I think after that, some guys saw it was
no big deal. It’s weird how he’ll sit there and preach how his door is
always open, but guys still won’t go in.”

Alright. That is that. Now, who is gonna lead this team to the promise land? Anybody got a favorite candidate?

“I
agonize over every decision, more than I ever thought I would,” says
Anthopoulos, leaning back in a chair in an empty conference room in the
Rogers Centre. “God, every decision feels like it’s huge. You make
decisions, but before I make a trade I talk to everybody, ask a million
questions. It might sound a little bit insane, but it’s that important.
“If
I talk to 10 people, maybe one gives me a link that leads to something
else. If the janitor has a good point to make, it might help us.”
“He
likes the tension of an argument,” Jays president Paul Beeston says.
“Alex, he’s remarkable in that he doesn’t mind having the debate.”

An insightful piece on our General Manager and all the challenges he has faced in his first year on the job.

For now let us merely note that if Frantz has the guts to make an actual
accusation, he should make it. To state, in plain language, that he
doubts that Bautista's accomplishments are genuine. To do otherwise --
to make oblique reference to
the mere possibility that Bautista cheated and to blame
figures who haven't played baseball for several years for "the questions
that remain" -- is cowardly.
And that goes not only for Frantz,
but for anyone who wishes to join in the increasingly popular pastime
of trashing Jose Bautista. Ladies and gentlemen: if you have evidence,
or even reasonable suspicion that Bautista -- a
player who has had at least two PED tests this season -- has used PEDs,
come out and say it. If you don't, please spare us your insinuations to
the contrary.

Aaron
Hill was openly displeased when manager Cito Gaston took him out of
Sunday’s game after the seventh inning. The Toronto Blue Jays’ second
baseman, who has struggled at the plate all season, was not in the
lineup for Monday night’s game against the New York Yankees.
“He’s fine,” Gaston said before the game. “I just want to give him a
day off to rest his mind and just clear his head. He’ll be back in there
tomorrow.”

I hope Aaron can get off to a hot start next season. We need him. We really do.

These guys are supposed to be really damn good. And all of them were
really damn good at one point, because that's how you convince someone
to give you $20M per year to do something. But how have the four members
currently in New York's $20 Million Club fared this season? Well, if
you guys were looking for a New York-centric post (because I'm trying to
be unique today!), you're going to get one, because you could never
really make a post like this with a team from any other city.

Travis Snider, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
Bourdett: I’ve been projecting a breakout for Travis Snider for a couple
years now, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record. I actually
thought this was the year it would happen, but unfortunately, a wrist
injury in May completely derailed his 2010 campaign. It may seem like
Snider’s been around a while, but it’s important to note that he doesn’t
turn 23 until February, an age at which most high draft picks — Snider
was Toronto’s first-round pick back in ‘06 – are tasting the majors for
the very first time (Snider’s hit .252/.317/.434 as a 20-22 year old
over 651 big-league plate appearances). Snider’s a great bet to enter
2011 with a starting outfield job in hand, and if he can continue to
make strides with his strikeout rate — he shaved about five percentage
points off his K-rate between last season and this season — I see no
reason why he can’t hit .260-.270 with 25-30 homers next year.

Aaron Hill, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays
ZOG: Take a glance at Hill’s Mendoza-line batting average this offseason
and you’ll be tempted to dismiss him as a 2B-eligible Russell Branyan.
But take a closer look and you’ll be rewarded handsomely. He’s never hit
below .263 in his career, his strikeout rate has remained stable, his
walk rate has actually increased slightly in 2010, and at age 28 he’s
still in his prime. Most telling of all, his BABIP sits at .196, nearly
100 points below his career average and 30 points below anybody else in
either league — which means that, statistically speaking, Aaron Hill is
the unluckiest man in baseball. He may never exceed his 2009 total of 36
home runs, but he could easily top this year’s 26 and approach last
year’s .286 average. With his value depressed as it is, Hill could be
one of the biggest steals of 2011 on draft day.

Joe Carter is a World Series hero and a five-time All-Star, but in 1992, his biological clock
was ticking. Much to the chagrin of his teammates and to the hilarity
of the sports media, Carter began mothering the rest of the Blue Jays.
Starting in spring training, the Jays would walk into their clubhouse
and find packed lunches
in their lockers. Carter would pace the room, wiping off dirt from
David Wells' face with a saliva-moistened Kleenex, yelling at Jack
Morris to pick up after himself and encouraging wildman Tom Henke
to find himself a nice girl and settle down already. He grounded
Roberto Alomar for missing curfew the night before a big series against
the Yankees. He even acted as clubhouse matron during the All-Star Game.
In this photo, Carter is seen wiping a stray booger
off All-Star teammate Mark McGwire's nose while handing him a cup of
homemade lemonade. Annoyed by the man's unconditional love, the Blue
Jays could come up with one solution: They pooled together enough money
to buy a black-market Salvadorian orphan named Enrique
and left him on Carter's doorstep one August night. And while they were
happy to no longer have the man they had come to call "Joe Mama" on
their case all the time, the locker room seemed a little emptier without
Carter's peanut butter cookies.

I am so happy I found this site. Take a look around if you got a minute. Awesome stuff.

2 comments:

Mattt,The weekly round up will continue on, in all it's glory. The only thing is the news tends to be harder to come by. Fear not, I'm on it.But,If anybody has any suggestions for articles and/or the round up girl please send them over.